About "Key Color"

In Well temperaments, each of the 12 major and 12 minor keys was thought to have its own emotional
quality. This is primarily due to the varying sizes of the major thirds in the
Well temperaments, which dominated European music during the 17th, 18th and 19th
centuries. The descriptions below are arranged according to the circle of fifths.
You can see that the descriptions change from more peaceful around C major / A
minor to more struggling/distressed around F# major / D# minor.

--text drawn from from Christian Schubart's Ideen zu einer Aesthetik der Tonkunst
(1806).Translated by Rita
Steblin in A History of Key Characteristics in the 18th and Early 19th
Centuries. UMI Research Press (1983)

Well-tempered keys containing the
Major Third

Major keys

Minor keys

G Major: Everything rustic, idyllic and lyrical, every calm and satisfied
passion, every tender gratitude for true friendship and faithful love,--in
a word every gentle and peaceful emotion of the heart is correctly
expressed by this key.

E minor: Na´ve, womanly innocent declaration of love, lament without
grumbling; sighs accompanied by few tears; this key speaks of the imminent
hope of resolving in the pure happiness of C major.

D-F#

D Major: The key of triumph, of Hallelujahs, of war-cries, of
victory-rejoicing. Thus, the inviting symphonies, the marches, holiday
songs and heaven-rejoicing choruses are set in this key.

B Minor: This is as it were the key of patience, of calm awaiting one's
fate and of submission to divine dispensation.

A-C#

A Major: This key includes declarations of innocent love, satisfaction
with one's state of affairs; hope of seeing one's beloved again when
parting; youthful cheerfulness and trust in God.

F# Minor: A gloomy key: it tugs at passion as a dog biting a dress.
Resentment and discontent are its language.

C# Minor: Penitential lamentation, intimate conversation with God, the
friend and help-meet of life; sighs of disappointed friendship and love
lie in its radius.

B-D#

B Major: Strongly colored, announcing wild passions, composed from the
most glaring colors. Anger, rage, jealousy, fury, despair and every
burden of the heart lies in its sphere.

Ab Minor: Grumbling, heart squeezed until it suffocates; wailing lament,
difficult struggle; in a word, the color of this key is everything
struggling with difficulty.

F#-A#

F# Major: Triumph over difficulty, free sigh of relief uttered when hurdles
are surmounted; echo of a soul which has fiercely struggled and finally
conquered lies in all uses of this key.

D# Minor: Feelings of the anxiety of the soul's deepest distress, of
brooding despair, of blackest depression, of the most gloomy condition of
the soul. Every fear, every hesitation of the shuddering heart, breathes
out of horrible D# minor. If ghosts could speak, their speech would
approximate this key.

Db-F

Db Major: A leering key, degenerating into grief and rapture. It cannot
laugh, but it can smile; it cannot howl, but it can at least grimace its
crying. Consequently only unusual characters and feelings can be brought
out in this key.

Bb minor: A quaint creature, often dressed in the garment of night. It is
somewhat surly and very seldom takes on a pleasant countenance. Mocking
God and the world; discontented with itself and with everything;
preparation for suicide sounds in this key.